The Songs of Loss and Survival

A dozen years after 9/11, an American musician has turned memories of grief into survivor songs — some of them surprisingly joyous.

Composer and pianist Jake Heggie said Sunday that his new album titled “here/after (songs of lost voices)” is meant “to create a sense of hope and newness that can come from the grief. Otherwise, the people who did it win.”

The singers, including baritone Nathan Gunn and soprano Talise Trevigne, tell the stories of 9/11 survivors from around the country, expressing feelings about lost loved ones as they sort belongings left behind. One set of songs is called “Pieces of 9-11.”

A firefighter from Texas Task Force 1 who had combed through the smoking ground zero rubble says, “And everything belonged to somebody/To somebody gone/And we all belonged to each other/From that moment on.”

Songwriter Gene Scheer, a Grammy award nominee, listened to real people to find words for the lyrics.

Adults and children shared sometimes whimsical stories about dead spouses, fathers and friends — even about the pregnant woman who perished on United Flight 93 that crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back the terrorists.